Francesco Bagnaia produced another heroic performance to take the final podium place in round 12 of the MotoGP World Championship, the GP of San Marino and the Riviera di Rimini, at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli.
On another triumphant day for Ducati, which achieved a 1-2-3 podium, Pecco finished third in the 27-lap race behind the winner Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing), who led from lights to flag, and runner-up Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Racing). The championship leader leaves Misano with an advantage of 36 and 65 points over these two rivals in the title race.
Sporting a special Ducati Yellow livery on his leathers and Desmosedici GP23 machine, a tribute to Ducati’s racing heritage, Bagnaia got the jump on Bezzecchi at the start and looked comfortable in second behind Martin for the first 18 laps, the top 3 lapping consistently in around 1m32. In the final third of the race, Bagnaia suffered a drop and had to give way to Bezzecchi at Quercia on lap 19, and then spent the remaining laps until the chequered flag holding off the attacks from Pedrosa (KTM).
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
“It was a tough weekend, but we succeeded in achieving our goal, which was to finish in the top-5 in both races. One week ago, we were struggling, and it was difficult to consider a race weekend like this, so this was the maximum we could do. I tried to stay with Martin for as long as possible, but my leg, the fact that I was riding only with my arms and the front tyre pressure didn’t allow me to do it. When it started to be too difficult, I had to leave a bit of a gap to Bezzecchi, and I just tried to breathe a bit and have a bonus of performance in the last two or three laps so as not to give a chance to Pedrosa to overtake me. But I’m incredibly happy and proud of the work we did, and I only lost 14 points instead of a possible 37. Now we go to India for a race where physically I will be in better shape, and we will try and score more points for the championship.”
After tomorrow’s scheduled Misano test, in which Bagnaia is not expected to take part, the MotoGP World Championship heads away from Europe for a run of six overseas events starting with the Grand Prix of India at the Buddh International Circuit, scheduled for the weekend of 23/24 September.
